IMPROVED HEALTH: THE EEASON. 613 



insect magnified ; and No. 3 shows the magnified proboscis and 

 poison-bulb at the root. 



We tried to leave one morning, but the rain coming on afresh 

 brought us to a stand, and after waiting an hour, wet to the 

 skin, we were fain to retrace our steps to our sheds. These 

 rains were from the east, and the clouds might be seen on the 

 hills exactly as the "Table-cloth" on Table Mountain. This 

 was the first wetting we had got since we left Sesheke, for I had 

 gained some experience in traveling. In Londa we braved the 

 rain, and, as I despised being carried in our frequent passage 

 through running water* I was pretty constantly drenched ; but 

 now, when we saw a storm coming, we invariably halted. The 

 men soon pulled grass sufficient to make a little shelter for them- 

 selves by placing it on a bush, and, having got my camp-stool and 

 umbrella, with a little grass under my feet, I kept myself perfect- 

 ly dry. We also lighted large fires, and the men were not chilled 

 by streams of water running down their persons, and abstracting 

 the heat, as they would have been had they been exposed to the 

 rain. When it was over they warmed themselves by the fires, 

 and we traveled on comfortably. The effect of this care was, that 

 we had much less sickness than with a smaller party in journey- 

 ing to Loanda. Another improvement made from my experience 

 was avoiding an entire change of diet. In going to Loanda I took 

 little or no European food, in order not to burden my men and 

 make them lose spirit, but trusted entirely to what might be got 

 by the gun and the liberality of the Balonda ; but on this journey 

 I took some flour which had been left in the wagon, with some 

 got on the island, and baked my own bread all the way in an ex- 

 temporaneous oven made by an inverted pot. With these pre- 

 cautions, aided, no doubt, by the greater healthiness of the dis- 

 trict over which we passed, I enjoyed perfect health. 



When we left the Chipongo on the 30th we passed among the 

 range of hills on our left, which are composed of mica and 

 clay slate. At the bottom we found a forest of large silicified 

 trees, all lying as if the elevation of the range had made them 

 fall away from it, and toward the river. An ordinary-sized tree 

 standing on end, measured 22 inches in diameter: there were 

 12 laminae to the inch. These are easily counted, because there 

 is usually a scale of pure silica between each, which has not been 



